MPC One: Standalone, $699, and what the MPC Touch should have been?

Has there ever been a totally standalone MPC that’s been priced under $1,000? The MPC Touch that was released five years ago seemed like it was going to be the winner – but it still required a computer. With this new MPC One, Akai hopes to create a no-computer-needed piece of hardware that wins over the budget-minded.

• Product: MPC One
• Manufacturer: Akai Pro
• Release Date: Feb 2020
• Price: $699

Last year at NAMM 2019, Akai introduced a risk-taking product, the Akai Force. The thinking was to answer the many calls for a standalone version of Ableton or Maschine. This year, Akai is approaching a similar problem from the other end: making a relatively budget conscious standalone groovebox production unit with the MPC One.

As is often the case with an InMusic brand, just because a product is built for one purpose doesn’t mean that many of the lessons and technologies can’t be used in other devices and concepts in the future. Look no further than the Akai pads on the just-released Rane Seventy mixer.

That seems to be the case here with the MPC One – there’s lots of technology in side that appears likely to be from other InMusic developments (the screen, for instance, looks like it’s straight out of the Prime series).

Full Feature Set of the MPC One

Here’s what Akai highlights in their official feature specs about the MPC One:

• Brilliant 7-inch multi-touch display
• 16 velocity-sensitive RGB pads
• 2GB RAM, 4GB onboard storage
• MIDI In/Out
• 4 TRS CV/Gate Jacks, 8 Outputs Total
• USB Flash & SD Card storage
• Works as a control surface for PC & Mac and includes a full version of MPC2 Desktop Software.

Sadly, there doesn’t appear to be a battery inside of the MPC Touch – so you’ll still need to be connected to power. It seems like InMusic should have shared the battery technology from the Prime Go on this release to make it truly portable.

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